Prom 57 (31.08.20) Live Viennese Concert

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Marking 150 years since the birth of Franz Lehár – and recalling the long-running Proms tradition of the ‘Viennese Night’ begun in the 1950s – the BBC Concert Orchestra and Bramwell Tovey step into the gilded ballroom of operetta, evoking the glamour and sophistication of turn-of-the-century Vienna.

The concert features some of Lehár’s most popular titles such as The Merry Widow, The Land of Smiles and Giuditta, as well as music by some of his contemporaries. Nathaniel Anderson-Frank, leader of the BBC Concert Orchestra, takes the role of Paganini with a solo from Lehar’s operetta of the same name, and the evening also includes excerpts from the most enduring and popular operetta of them all, Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus.

Lehar: Overture (The Merry Widow)
Oscar Straus: Don’t eat them all, you greedy man (from The Chocolate Soldier)
Lehar: Meine lippen sie Küssen so heiss (from Giuditta)
Kalman: Gruss mir mein Wien (from Gräfin Mariza)
Johann Strauss II: Overture (Die Fledermaus)
Lehar, arr Dexter: Prelude and Violin solo (from Paganini)
Heuberger: Im Chambre separée (from Opera Ball)
Lehar: Gold and Silver Waltz
Lehar: Es lebt eine Vilja (from The Merry Widow)
Lehar: You are my heart’s delight (from The Land of Smiles)
Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss: Pizzicato Polka
Johann Strauss II: The Watch Duet (from Die Fledermaus)

Sophie Bevan (soprano)
Robert Murray (tenor)
BBC Concert Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey (conductor)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Who remembers Barbirolli's Viennese Proms? They were quite special.

[Barbirollians]

There is a BBC Legends CD as I recall.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There is a BBC Legends CD as I recall.

Yes. I have it.

[bluestateprommer]

This was a fun listen, from the BBC CO and friends. Perhaps Bramwell Tovey paced a few sections a bit spaciously to be careful, and also presumably under the same kind of social distancing conditions for the musicians on stage, maybe not everything was quite 100.0000% together at every given moment (e.g. the last note of the 'Pizzicato Polka'). But very, very enjoyable, and the slower vocal numbers with Sophie Bevan and Robert Murray did capture that uniquely Viennese melancholy and nostalgia in the orchestral sound, even with reduced orchestral forces.

Petroc was clearly enjoying his role here as presenter, and he did raise good points and questions about what will happen to the New Year's Day concert of the VPO.

[cloughie]

There is a BBC Legends CD as I recall.

BBCL40382
HAYDN Sym083
LEHAR Gold & Silver Waltz Op79
STRAUSS JII Die Fledermaus Ov Op362
STRAUSS JII Emperor Waltz Op437
STRAUSS JII Perpetuum Mobile Op257
STRAUSS JII Trisch-Trasch Polka Op.214
STRAUSS R Der Rosenkavalier Suite Op59